Movie-Defiance

This is a tale of true life bravery, in the face of a terrifying evil, the Nazi regime and its systematic plans to destroy all Jews.

In Belarus, the invasion of the Third Reich was not much different than the invasion of other countries and territories. They gathered Jews into ghettos and started killing them. Defiance (2008) tells the story of those who escaped into the forest and formed a community that saved the lives of a couple of thousand of people--- men, women and children.

This community was led by Tuvia Bielski, and aided by his three brothers, who defended, fed, clothed and taught this community, while keeping it together in the face of the Nazi onslaught. Daniel Craig does a great job as Tuvia. Together with Liev Shreiber as Zuz Bielski, and other wonderful performances, this film is well acted, and heartfelt. The courage it took for them to stand against the "unstoppable" German war machine was tremendous. They knew the best revenge against the Nazis was survival, and they were determined to survive.

In the extras features there are interviews with some of the survivors and the kids of the Bielski brothers, and it is excellent. I would encourage watching this feature also.

There have been many films telling the story of survivors of the Holocaust, from Schindler's List to many others. Each one adding a layer to the courage of a people that Hitler wanted to wipe from the face of the earth. While I will not say Defiance is as good as Schindler's, I will say it ranks up there with the next tier of this type of movie. That is pretty damn good.